Mini-LED has finally arrived on the Hisense U6 TV. While Hisense originally added Mini-LED to last year’s U6K TVs, the local TV version didn’t get the tech at the time. So this new U6N Pro is quite a big deal for the local market. Not only is this the most affordable Mini-LED TV you can get but it also comes with some great features that you often won’t find in a TV at this price.
Watch the Hisense U6N Pro review
Just to clear the air, there is no Hisense U6N non-Pro TV in SA. The brand has decided to call this year’s U6 model the U6N Pro so don’t get confused thinking there’s a Pro TV and a non-Pro TV out there to choose between.
Essentially, the U6N wants to offer a Mini-LED experience without forking out a huge sum of cash to do so. It is for those looking for a well-rounded TV that can game and deliver decent image quality when it comes to movies and TV shows. A big focus for the TV is, of course, the Mini-LED tech and it is great to see
Speaking of the price tag, the Hisense U6N comes in four sizes. There is a 55, 65, 75 and 85-inch model. At the time of reviewing, I was only able to see the 55 and 65-inch in stock at retailers in SA. These two models retail for R11,999 and R13,999 respectively. But I already spotted them on sale for R8,999 and R11,999 saving R2,000 on both.
The TVs range between 160 dimming zones on the 55-inch up to 512 zones on the 85-inch. Both the 65 and 75-inch include 240 local dimming zones. As for the panels, the U6N has a VA panel on the 55, 65 and 85-inch with the 75-inch being the only model to include an ADS Pro IPS panel.
While these numbers are quite low in comparison to the recently-reviewed U7N and U8N TVs from Hisense, they are still quite impressive for what this TV costs. The closest competitor to this TV is likely the Samsung Q60 but that display has limited local dimming zones resulting in more blooming and less contrast. Its peak brightness is also advertised at 450 nits compared to the U6N at 550 nits.
Hisense sent over the 65-inch U6N Pro for me to test out. This size is likely the best model for most users given its local dimming zones and brightness. Unboxing the TV was a quick and easy process. Given the size and lighter design, it can be done alone but do have someone nearby for help if need be.
The box includes a bag of stuff you’ll need to operate the unit. There’s the Hisense remote, a power cable, some screws and paperwork. You’ll also find two legs in the box to place the TV on your cabinet. These legs are screwed into the bottom of the TV and fastened by two screws.
The legs then reach 12cm out to the front of the TV and 12cm out to the back. They are 31cm in length. If you install the legs in the two centre positions, they are 69cm apart. If you install them on the outer positions, they are 116cm apart. It raises the bottom of the TV 7cm from the TV stand.
This is high enough for more soundbars to sit in front of the TV. But if your soundbar is 7cm or thicker, you might have issues reaching the IR sensor on the TV.
Generally speaking, the Hisense U6N Pro is a good-looking TV. The square legs give it a nice modern look and the panel and the cable management on the legs means you can keep things neat too.
When it comes to the ports, the U6N Pro is powered by a figure 8 power cable. This port is on the right-hand side. On the left, there are three HDMI ports. All three are HDMI 2.0 with HDMI 3 being eARC. These ports are rated at 4K60Hz. You’ll also find the tuner, AV in, two USB 2.0 ports and an auxiliary port near those HDMI ports. On the back, Hisense has included the LAN port and digital audio out port.
The TV build is okay. It does wobble a bit when touched and creaks in a few spots but again, this isn’t meant to be a super premium TV. The panel also reaches to the corners of the display creating the illusion of a slimmer TV. The general style of the U6N is pretty much the same as last year’s U6K for those who have seen that TV in the flesh.
Setting up the U6N is as easy and breezy as VIDAA can get. The TV lets you dive into the menus and inputs without even signing into a VIDAA account or connecting to the internet. I do recommend you connect to the internet at least. In case there’s a firmware update available.
VIDAA then comes with all the apps you would expect from it. DStv is here, Netflix, Showmax, Disney+ etc. You can also enjoy Crunchyroll which is a new addition to VIDAA this year. The home menu houses all the apps in one neat place but you can also access them by using the shortcuts on the remote.
The home menu does have some adverts that scroll at the top of the page. Those can also be disabled in the settings menu if you would like. I know not everyone enjoys VIDAA but unless it doesn’t have the app you’re looking for, the operating system is still one of the best on the market. It is fast and responsive, has some great security features and all the menus are clear and precise. I do enjoy how it leaves apps open in the background so I don’t always have to search YouTube for the video I was watching earlier in the day. Of course, you can always get a media box if you’re hell-bent on Android TV. I know I am so I don’t blame you.
I tested a number of features on the Hisense U6N Pro. Each input saw me having to tweak some settings to get the TV into the display mode I wanted. I always disable all motion, denoise and gradient settings. I also changed the colour profile to Warm 2, or usually, the setting that reduced the blue whites without making them look too yellow. On this year’s ULED range, this was Warm 2.
Picture mode settings on the U6N include the expected toggles. Standard, Filmmaker, Dynamic, Cinema etc. Each is tied to either HDR or Dolby Vision depending on the signal you’re getting. You’ll want to also enable Local Dimming and set it to high. I was happy to see that the High setting doesn’t diminish image quality by crushing the blacks too much.
HDR content performed very well on this panel. The TV is bright and the Quantum Dot colour technology goes a long way to enhance the content you’re watching. 4K demo reels looked impressive on the TV and I constantly had to remind myself that this display costs under R15,000. At times, it is hard to believe we’ve come this far with TVs where you can buy a product with this level of performance for this price.
Regardless of the lack of 120Hz, gaming on the U6N Pro was excellent. The Mini-LEDs make quite a big difference here and complement all the specular highlights in games. Vibrant games looked good and even darker environments were impressive. While the TV doesn’t have 120Hz, it does still include VRR and ALLM so it is capable of maintaining its refresh rates and provides stability across games when these frames fluctuate.
If you do want higher refresh rates, you can enable 1080p and 1440p at 120Hz. However, 1440p doesn’t work on the TV for consoles due to the inability to force a resolution onto the hardware. You’re stuck with 1080p here. Also, be aware that changing the resolution to anything but 4K does disable VRR. This is likely due to the change in the refresh rate and not the resolution. The input lag in gaming was great. You’re looking at 10ms at 4K 60Hz. At 1080p 120Hz, I measured 6ms.
As for the technical side of this TV, the peak brightness on the panel definitely comes with a kick thanks to the Mini-LEDs. A 25% window peaked at 610 nits and a 100% window at 440 nits. This is bright for a TV at this price range and specification. It isn’t remotely bright compared to the U7N and U8N but it will provide enough volume to enhance HDR content and specular highlights. Keep in mind that due to the nature of the panel, the TV does struggle to make HDR highlights stand out in bright scenes. This is more effective in dark scenes. The peak brightness also isn’t high enough to create a clear difference between highlight and lowlights. But the performance is still good for what you’re paying here.
Dimming on the TV is handled quite well. The contrast at 80,000:1 combined with the “High” local dimming setting creates some rich black levels. Bloom is present, of course. The blooming is noticeable in a darker room against bright objects. Generally, the blooming wasn’t at all “bad”. It is there and the TV tries its best to clean up the halo effect. There are definitely TVs that handle blooming better than the U6N but again, these cost double or triple too.
The viewing angles were somewhat okay. Details are lost at around 20 degrees which is lower than most LED TVs at 30 degrees. Any off-centre viewing here will result in gamma shifting, brightness adjustment and colours being washed out. If you want better viewing angles, you’ll need to look at the 75-inch ADS Pro panel.
The panel itself handles reflections quite well too but keep in mind that during the day, this might be a challenge for the TV if you have any direct-facing windows. That’s because a bright TV usually fights these reflections but you need peak brightness of about double the value of the U6N to do so. However, the semi-gloss panel here isn’t bad at all.
The Hisense U6N does a good job of upscaling 1080p content. I did turn up the sharpening a bit to make this a bit cleaner but if you’re watching older content, it will fair quite well on the TV. The same goes for sports. The TV has a great response time resulting in little blur across balls and fast camera movements. Sports lovers will enjoy this TV.
The panel was relatively clean. Black uniformity with local dimming disabled was impressive with only a few backlight bleed on some sports around the corner of the TV. You don’t see any of this with the Local Dimming setting enabled.
The grey uniformity wasn’t as good. There was dirty screen effect across the panel with variations in brightness caused by the panel quality. It is forgivable given the TV’s price tag and something you’ll have to go look for to notice.
Lastly, the sound. The Hisense U6N Pro packs an average set of speakers. There’s no subwoofer here which is expected. The speakers provide clear dialogue and okay music playback but don’t get very loud. There’s also little power in the sound. You’ll likely want to pick up a soundbar here instead.
I think the most surprising part of the Hisense U6N is the feature set for its asking price. The Mini-LEDs create some real standout enhancements on the panel. It makes a big difference compared to your typical LED TV. If you can live without 4K 120Hz, gaming is great and general TV watching holds up quite well too. It will be tough to find a TV with these specs for the same price.
The Hisense U6N Pro continues to show Hisense’s commitment to delivering great tech at competitive prices. The U6 is already a great TV at a great price. I can only imagine where it goes from here as technology becomes cheaper to develop.
Hisense U6N Pro Verdict
Summary
The Hisense U6N Pro is a good TV. It is the best way to get the perks of Mini-LED without spending a fortune. While it lacks 4K 120Hz, it ticks every other box and performs fairly well across all features. The panel is bright and vivid delivering deep blacks and surprisingly well-handled blooming. If you are on a budget, this is a no-brainer TV.
